


What makes a good name?

by giraffewithstripes



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fallen Castiel, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-03
Updated: 2013-09-03
Packaged: 2017-12-25 11:28:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/952546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giraffewithstripes/pseuds/giraffewithstripes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel, still struggling with humanity brings a stray home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What makes a good name?

Castiel liked to go out for walks. At first, Dean had feared that perhaps he'd walk out of that door and never come back. Having the angel disappear on you enough times could do that. Calling out to an angel on their angel radio and never getting a response is sure to leave you with a couple of trust issues (it was a phone now, Sam had taught him how to use it.). Dean Winchester was a mess after all.

But so was Castiel. He'd been stripped bare of his angel hood; his identity of how many millennia had been cut out of him and used to destroy all of heaven. That was a lot of baggage on anyone's shoulders, and Castiel needed some time to deal with it all, his mortality, his unbearable guilt. But Dean always got that little niggling fear inside him as soon as the fallen angel was gone and no longer tripping over his toes, that maybe he'll just take off and try to sort things out on his own. 

 

Dean knew he could take care of himself. The angel wasn't incapable as a human, he could still fight. Fight just as well as Dean with a knife, he could easily cripple him in hand to hand combat if Dean wasn't concentrating. With a gun he was less practised, more clumsy. But he'd still been able to bring down a Djinn on their last hunt. He'd even offered to go it alone on a case as Sam still had off days, but Dean wasn't prepared for that. Cas was new to the whole human thing. He could get himself hurt. He didn't care if he was being overprotective. He wasn't losing Cas. 

 

Sam said to stop doubting Castiel's abilities. Kevin also seemed skeptical, but that may just be his patience running thin, as it fell to him to show Castiel some of the human ropes seeing as Dean had enough to take care of as it was. The kitchen smelt of ash most days. Everyone bore through their food with forced smiles as Castiel glared down at his own plate at another spoilt creation. "You'll get it eventually." Dean would say, cutting through his blob of spaghetti with a knife and fork, with a big dollop of mince. 

"I wish that came sooner." Castiel would grumble back.

~:~

It'd only been a few weeks since the fallen angel had dragged himself back to the Men of Letters single handedly; shivering on the doorstep in his wet clothes. He'd walked for miles. Dean had stared at the angel in disbelief, skimming his eyes up and down hungrily, double checking. Cas. Castiel in the flesh. More worn around the edges. Same sad eyes: blue and overflowing with regret. He was surprised to see him without his trench coat clinging to him, his second skin that Dean had come to see as a part of him. Gone with his wings, lost to the wind. 

"Cas?" He'd whispered. Castiel could barely manage a hoarse sorry before Dean had to hoist him over the last step, grappling to get a hold on him, pulling Castiel's wet body to himself without a second thought. The fallen angel had melted into his arms, going completely lax with exhaustion, legs buckling underneath him; eyes fluttering shut. The fallen angel sighed in his arms, deep and easy. The sigh of relief.

~:~

Castiel debriefed him with only the need to know, as always. Feelings about what had happened were as he put it "not of import". Dean didn't really have the time to give to the fallen angel that he needed to talk about those matters as much as he wanted to. 

The fallen angel was quieter than he used to be. His smile, not that he smiled much to begin with was missing something. His rare laugh had a strange emptiness to it, a longing pang for something to fill the aching hole.

Castiel's room stayed bare, not a hair out of place. Dean kind of wished the angel would make more of a mess, just for some evidence to say that he'd been here. That he slept in that made up bed. He'd read those books on his bedside tables. 

His sparse collection of Dean's old shirts and bits and bobs they'd collected from charity shops sat neatly in the drawer; the two suits for cases that he had swung to and fro in the wardrobe looking terribly lonely. 

~:~

Maybe that's why as the fallen angel had shuffled back through the door after one of these very walks with a brown bundle of fur in his arms; eyes wide and pleading, Dean couldn't find it in him to refuse. It was impractical. Idiotic. What were three hunters and a prophet going to do with a dog?

Dean had folded his arms, waiting for the angel to speak first, hoping he looked somewhat intimidating. Castiel frowned, his bottom lip jutting out just a little, the expression of a crestfallen child hoping for an ice cream. "She needs me." Was all the fallen angel could say in a voice that was not his own. And it was just so completely human.

The bundle of fur wriggled in his arms, trying to lick his cheek at Castiel's display of kindness. There was mud all the way down the sleeves of one of his nicer button downs, but of course the fallen angel didn't care about that. The animal in his arms was what his focus was on. His eyes softened as he looked at her, as if in her he'd found that little something again, that little bit of his heart that had gone missing for such a long time. His purpose. 

Footsteps sounded behind Dean, he shook his head at Sam as he appeared on the stairs, shaking his head vigorously at him, before it was too late. 

Of course Sam was "too slow" to pick up the hint. Dean could see the precise moment as his brother fell in love with the shaggy mess, stumbling over to get a closer look at the dog, reaching out a tentative hand towards its muzzle while his other hand massaged its back. It feebly wagged its tail back and forth, its black lips stretched in what looked to Dean like it trying to smile. Dean had to relent. 

Kevin had given him the stare of judgement as he trundled into the kitchen behind Castiel and Sam as they rummaged for something for the creature to eat. He settled for a small shrug of his shoulders, pretending to be preoccupied with a mug on the kitchen counter to hide his embarrassment.

But even Kevin couldn't resist her charms. He had become besotted with the shaggy bundle of love by the end of the evening, rubbing its tummy as it rolled onto its back. Dean had agreed to say yes on the condition that once they'd checked that there was no owner for certain they could keep her as long as Kevin cared for her while they went on hunts. The dog lovers agreed to this whole heartedly. Dean tried to hide a sly pat on the dog's head. 

The dog's tail soon became a blur under all that fuss; and with that laughs and jokes broke out across the worn soldiers lips, all things forgotten for a few short hours. 

~:~

She seemed to know when Sam was having one of his bad days before Dean did, pressing her nose against Sam's huge open palm; laying her ears back against her head as a low whine escaped her lips. Sam would smile wanly in response to her comforts, running his hand through her long fur while the TV hummed in the background. She would stay by his side until long after he fell asleep. 

And as for Cas, he talked to her. As he watched TV, and she sat loyally by his side. Sometimes it was the most inane of things, like explaining the humour of a cartoon, but once Dean had walked in on Castiel talking about the things he had loved most about heaven. Castiel hadn't noticed him, he talked over his shoulder to the dog as he worked at trying to prepare another meal in the kitchen, the dog seeming to listen intently to him with her ears pricked. He left the room immediately, face red in shock and shame for having intruded on Castiel saying something personal. Who knew a dog would be so therapeutic for them, she almost did a better job than Dean did.

Surprisingly she didn't bark much, only when they came back through the door, standing on her hind legs, struggling to reach up and lick everyone's faces, her tail thumping out a samba. The licking and the barking intensified after they came back from a long hunt. Her barking normally alerted a bedraggled Kevin to their return, eyes red rimmed from little sleep. And as for Cas, even as tired as he normally was after a hunt, he lit up as he rubbed the dog's back, murmuring some Enochian to her as he rubbed her head and he just looked so happy to be home. He didn't go out for walks by himself anymore. Dean felt a lot more assured of the dog going out with him wherever the fallen angel went. He trusted her to bring him back to them. 

When Dean had asked Cas what he wanted to call her he had frowned back at him; not really understanding the concept. "Does she need one?" He'd asked, licking his dry lips. Dean was yet to teach him the wonders of chapstick. "Course she does," Dean said gruffly, as the dog nudged his leg, her big eyes hoping for a stroke. He ignored her, fixing his eyes on Castiel. "You've got to call her something so she knows who to come back to. You don't want her to run off do you?" 

Castiel's eyes narrowed, the typical expression of Castiel deep in thought: at least that hadn't changed. The words passed out slowly from his lips. He massaged the dog's head as he spoke. "You mean how you call me Cas? Calling someone something different to make her yours?" 

Dean stared at him, stunned at Castiel's casual statement. Castiel considered himself in some way belonging to Dean. He fought the urge to try to meet Castiel's eyes. "Yeah." 

Castiel was quiet as he rubbed circles into the dog's fur. "She probably used to have a different home." 

"I know Cas," Dean said thickly, swallowing hard. "But we're going to look after her." 

Castiel's sad blue eyes swept up to meet Dean's hardened green.

"Just don't bring anymore strays home you hear? No matter how cute they are." 

"She needed me." Castiel said, an echo of the words he'd said as he had stumbled through the door with the heap in his arms. Dean clenched his fists, his eyes smarting at the wistfulness in Castiel's expression, the sincere joy in being needed in helping something as small as a dog -

Dean pulled Castiel's with so much enthusiasm that he left Castiel breathless. "We need you Cas," Dean stated, his voice singing with the truth of it. Castiel nodded, his arms wrapping around Dean tightly. "I know." He murmured. "I need you too Dean." 

The dog cocked her head at the two of them as they pulled away from each other, as if confused as to why they would ever let each other go. Dean chuckled to himself, looking across at Castiel as his dark brows came together over his still so expressive eyes; pondering what name would be a best suit. Dean could tell it would be no simple Fluffy or Foo Foo in this case. 

Castiel knelt to the dog's level to stroke her silky ears, saying something to her in a voice too low for Dean to make out. 

"You don't have to decide right away Cas,"Dean says, smiling fondly at him. He blinked. He rose back onto his feet, his mind obviously still skimming through the magnitude of possibilities. Dean bit his lips, wanting to remind him that they all need to be able to pronounce it. He didn't want to have to say a tongue twister of Enochian to call the dog over to get its food. He had enough of that at work.

Instead he sneaks the dog a treat when he thinks Cas is not looking. Casitel hid a sly smile, turning a blind eye. He may not have angelic powers but he knew Dean like the back of his hand. 

He let the brothers know his decision as he sat in the back seat of the Impala, leant over to watch the scenery of the ropey clouds and the green trees flash by, his finger tapping out the beat to one of Dean's songs. "Joy. That's what I decided to call her." Dean's eyes flick back to Castiel examining his face closely. Castiel's smile was beautiful in that moment, his eyes crinkling and glistening like the sunlight dancing off of the sea. "It's a good name." Sam said, giving Castiel a reassuring smile. 

"Yes it is," Dean rumbled, keeping his eyes on the road.


End file.
